VAR Reaches out – Part 3 of 3

This concludes the interview with Ben Martin, VAR’s “Robert Scoble” (his analogy, which hopefully will prove accurate).Â My thanks to him for taking the time to answer so many questions. While he’s been on the job for less than a month, expectations are high that his efforts will bring a greater relevancy to the Virginia Association of Realtors. Stay tuned.
How can this position and outreach benefit the general public?

I frankly can’t come up with a good answer to this right now. Maybe in a few months I’ll have a better idea. I suspect we might be able to make REALTORS more proficient in the language and customs of the social web, thereby opening new venues through which home sellers, home buyers and home owners can be serviced. We also might be able to shift attitudes about the role of REALTORS in the marketplace and government.

Look forward 12 and 18 months – what changes do you forsee? What would you like the landscape to look like?

At least 1000 people in VAR’s LinkedIn and facebook groups. Ten new, strong contributors to the Virginia REALTOR blogging community. An annual Virginia REALTOR social web and new media event of some kind. Five thousand VAR members using RSS to read REALTOR blogs. A whole host of new ways to be engaged with VAR in a number of different program areas (convention, government affairs, governance, public relations, committee/advocacy groups, working groups, other ad hoc groups, etc.).

What role do you see VAR playing in Realtors’ lives and businesses in the next couple of years?

I’d like REALTORS to view VAR as an indispensable resource for growing their businesses and living a fulfilling life. There are a lot of different ways we could become that, but it will take a staff-member-volunteer partnership to figure it out.Â This will sound strange, but in a way, I’d like to see the social web/new media stuff fade into the background; to become transparent. I want it to become such a part of how we interact with each other that it’s just taken for granted. In my work, I keep hearing this French proverb: “Fish discover water last.” I’d like to see the social web be to REALTORS like water is to a fish.

VAR’s focus on new media and the tools of Web 2.0 is actually a strategic focus on broadening our engagement with — and value to — our members. We’re an organization of 39,000+ members, yet we’re not seen as relevant by many, many of those members. Despite the real value we deliver for our members’ dues investment â€“ from the thousands of dollars we save them annually through our lobbying efforts, to our first-rate information services and networking and professional development opportunities — if the member doesn’t KNOW about those services, they dont realize our value proposition. And so we’re on a strategic mission to connect with and better serve a broader group of Virginia REALTORS, and social media is one new and very important tool for doing that â€“ particularly in reaching out to and fostering community among our younger, more tech-savvy members. Ben Martin is a perfect fit for that challenge, and I’m delighted he’s leading not only that initiative for us, but our traditional communication outreach as well.

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VAR has a great find in Ben Martin. He’s really engaged in social media and will bring a ton of creative thinking to creating a community among your members. With 39,000+ members, you have a great reservoir of expertise and energy to tap, and he’ll help you do that.

Obviously technology has potential to be disruptive for REALTORS; the key is finding out how you can turn it around and take advantage. Ben will be all over that.

I do have a suggestion, though. Ben says he has 10 feeds he reads in no particular order. I would like to suggest alphabetical by author’s last name. That’s always been a useful organizing principle from my perspective.

Thanks, Jim, for your support of Ben’s work and of VAR. Social networking is definitely a new direction for VAR…but just one of several big new ideas we’re working on. If we do our communicating and connecting with members as effectively as we hope to, your membership value proposition will increase significantly in the year ahead. Stay tuned…

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